SONOMA, Calif. — Martin Truex Jr. had not won a Sprint Cup race in so long that he had trouble believing it when it finally happened Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.

Truex had not won since 2007 — a span of 218 races. Since then, he had finished second six times — all on big, fast tracks. No wonder he need to pinch himself when he won Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. His 218 starts between wins was the longest streak in NASCAR history between a driver's first and second career victories.

The win was the second straight at Sonoma for Michael Waltrip Racing. Bowyer won this race last year.

With different drivers on different pit strategies throughout the race, Truex inherited the lead when a pack of cars pitted on Lap 84 of the 110-lap race. Truex had led earlier in the race, and this time he held the lead on Matt Kenseth and Montoya with Marcos Ambrose close behind.

But Truex quickly pulled away to open up a big lead on Kenseth. When Montoya finally got around Kenseth for second, Truex was more than four seconds ahead. With 10 laps remaining, Truex led by five seconds on Montoya, one of the sport's top road racers.

Montoya ran out of gas on the final lap and coasted to a finish. As his car inched over the line he was awarded 34th place.

Truex won by 8.133 seconds over Gordon. Afterward, the two-time Nationwide Series champion breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"I've come here and been really fast and every year I get spun out or something," Truex said. "I was a little nervous but I was able to settle down and the car came to me. I’m just happy to get to victory lane and so proud to be able to put all my guys in victory lane.

"So many times were were so close and it just didn’t happen. It’s quite a relief, to be honest. It’s just a special, special day for me.”

Truex said he didn't even get nervous at the end of the race.

“I didn’t care what happened," he said. "It didn’t matter. I was nervous about a caution but just tried to focus and run the speed I needed to run. ... Believe it or not, it was easy."

With the win, Truex climbed back to 10th after falling out of the top 10 in the past two weeks.

In a race with numerous spins and wrecks and bad breaks for top contenders, no one suffered a worse fate than Montoya, who won here in 2007 and has two career road-course wins. Though he never led, he clearly had a fast car but ran out of fuel at the finish.

"It's just hearbreak," Montoya said. "It's heartbreak for me and everybody on the team."

Montoya said he had to use more fuel toward the end of the race during previous runs and just came up short.

"(We) should have been a little smarter," he said. "With five to go, you start saving a little bit, just in case. We've got tools to prevent things like that from happening."

Kurt Busch, meanwhile, overcame a hearbreak of his own. He led 15 laps but got nabbed for speeding twice on pit road, putting him a lap down in 38th. He rallied, however, to finish fourth.

"I messed up," Busch said. “I had a car to win. I was just too fast on certain parts of the track — on pit road.”

Kyle Busch, who also was expected to be a contender, also had a rough day. He got hit from behind and spun by Montoya on Lap 4, dropping him to 27th.

Busch was working his way back through the field when he got nabbed for speeding on pit road on Lap 32, falling to 35th.

He was fighting his way back when Edwards punted him into a tire barrier on Lap 82. Busch and Edwards were battling for 15th when Edwards got into the back of him.

With the fastest cars on different pit strategies, Brad Keselowski took the lead from Kurt Busch on a restart on Lap 34, and then Truex passed Keselowski for the lead on Lap 41. At one point Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Truex and Brian Vickers ran one-two, while teammate Bowyer, who was on a different pit cycle, ran 14th.

Danica Patrick, who was expected to be competitive on the road course, also struggled, spinning twice.